I returned from the bike club ride this morning to an email from my running club asking me to attend an awards evening next week. Apparently there is a nice shiny trophy with my name engraved on it awaiting my return for winning the 35+ Vet Category Time Trial Club Championships this summer! It hadn’t even crossed my mind that I’d done so well so this was a very pleasant surprise. Needless to say I won’t be there to collect it in person but I might record a message they can play on the big screen.. you know, sorry I can’t be there.. I’m in LA recording right now..

I’m kidding.

Thinking about it, considering I really didn’t put my full efforts into training for anything this year I had a great year picking up a couple of 2nd and 3rd places in my Mountain Bike series, 1st place in cat for the duathlon and 1st place in cat for the time trials.

I’m very proud of those unexpected achievements and I can’t wait to see what I’m capable of when I really put my mind to it next year.

The problem with trying to do long fast rides with a group of Cat 1 & 2 road racers is that inevitably the next day you will fail to walk.

Ok, they didn’t hammer me that bad but what did was the combo of that ride on top of a serious session of squats, lunges and calf raises in the gym the day before, a 35 mile ride the day before that and a 6 mile run before that. Delayed onset muscle soreness is a bit of a bastard and so is riding without carbs in your drink… that’s right – fuelled by water y’all.

After a lazy morning doing little other than walking the dog and going to the mall for some new running socks I took to the garden with a magazine and soon fell asleep in the sun. I had one of those dozes where falling in and out of a twilight zone allowed dreamy interactions with people I hadn’t seen for ages enter my mind. Images interspersed by sounds of squirrels cackling around the trees behind me and a distant leaf blower. I awoke feeling pensive and wistful, wanting something but I didn’t know what. Needing to go somewhere but I didn’t know where. I needed to run but couldn’t and didn’t want to wreck my already sore legs any further. And then I felt irritated and alone.

I decided to get out of the house for a bit and headed to Walmart where I could find some muscle rub for my legs and some fish for my dinner along with a side order of spectacular freak watching. It didn’t disappoint. I left the store with my bag containing Tilapia fillets, antacid and sports rub for sore muscles and headed to my truck in the car park only to be super obviously eyed up by the craning neck of a man driving a black pick up with “JUST MARRIED’ written in white across the back window. I shook my head in disbelief, thinking about it as I pulled out on to the main road – hoping the guy driving was not the guy who just got married and then kind of hoping he was…. married…. and off the market.

On the way home the evening was cooling down and the sun was starting to drop to treetops level casting a beautiful orange/blue mix across the sky like a watercolour wash. I pulled into a dirt side road overlooking a Polo field and just sat staring into the colours, thinking things through, feeling very alone.

It’s times like these I wished I could concentrate hard enough to connect with someone’s mind to make them realise where I was at that minute and how important it was for them to be there and then they’d come and appear right there in that moment to share it and make everything else go away.

And then I’d treat them to Tilapia fillets, a muscle rub and some antacids when the sickliness of my ridiculous imagination eventually took its course.

When I moved to the states in ’92 I took my parrot, a Chattering Lory named Bob with me. He endured quarantine in Miami Florida and was in one of the few buildings that didn’t get blown away by Hurricane Andrew. Bob was about 5 years old when he died suddenly of what turned out to be a genetic heart defect. I was absolutely gutted.

What made Bobs death worse was the silence that he left behind. No longer did we walk in the door greeted with an excited ‘HELLOOOO’ from his perch in the corner. No longer did we laugh at the little cheers and dances accompanied with his high pitched voice shouting ‘YAAAYY COME ON! DANCE’ when we played music.

We wanted another parrot – so we bought a baby Blue & Gold Macaw and brought him home young enough that we needed to hand feed him baby food with a syringe. Because of this early hand raising Sammy grew to be very cuddly and affectionate. We’d spend afternoons laying on the couch watching tv and taking naps – he’d actually lay next to me and go to sleep. I could kiss his face and he’d fluff up all cutesy with the attention. He was definitely a mums boy!

When Cameron was born the centre of attention changed and Sammy couldn’t bear it. He was insanely jealous any time that baby was near me and he’d scream in protest. Eventually it got to the point where he wouldn’t stop screaming unless he was perched on my shoulder and so I ended up rehoming him with my ex.

Today he’s about 15 years old and I was able to go and visit him. I took some nuts and within a short amount of time he was perched on my hand cracking open Brazil nuts as if they were housed in egg shells. He seemed fairly comfortable around me. There’s no way to really tell but it seemed as though he might have remembered me after all these years..

Met the guys at the cafe this morning and sucked down a coffee before heading off on the bikes. It was a bright sunny start to the day, although brisk enough at first to warrant arm warmers and two layers on top. After an hour the temp had jumped from a single digit to a very welcome 18c. Sky was blue and trees were stunning shades of yellow, orange, red, purple and green in the sunlight. It was a hard ride on a very undulating route of 40+ miles over 2 hours and the guys were on form with attacks and sprints at every opportunity. I just tucked in on the back and gave it everything I had just to keep up! I think they felt bad about shooting off on attacks with eachother but there’s nothing wrong with being the girl at the back when you’ve got a group of fit guys clad in lycra up ahead..

A fitting video for me to post since I’ve been going through some ‘trials’ of my own recently – albeit not the biking kind.

I spent many entertaining hours over the years watching an Ex perfecting his bike trials moves. I’d stand there shouting ideas and encouragement for the next move he could learn, taking photos and kissing the enevitable scraped and bruised shins better! It’s not a skill learnt without a barrell full of injuries and swear words. For me being the kind of person who wobbles about just turning to look for traffic over her shoulder I find it awe-inspiring watching someone who can jump a bike about like this with such velvety smoothness. Even the non-bikers amongst you will find this impressive watching.

Oddly these photos have proven popular judging by the comments I’ve received in person and via my Facebook. I’ve made it an album on Flickr and will add to it as I find the little treasures. Click the photo to go to the album.